Kelly Jackson

I am a rising junior Math-Economics major at Furman University, but I was born and grew up living in Birmingham, Alabama. In high school I always loved math and it always came naturally to me, but I didn’t consider majoring in it until spring of my Freshman year when I decided to take an extra math class and I realized I had really missed math. When I learned Furman offered a Math-Economics major, which combined both of my favorite subjects, I knew it was definitely perfect for me. I have traveled to Disney World five times growing up with my family (when I was ages 3, 5, 7, 13, and 16). Each time we went to Disney, especially the last two trips, my family and I would research all the different things we were going to do and find out about all the “hidden” things in Disney World. My dad and I would also always plan out what we would do everyday of the trip in order to hopefully be able to ride the most rides and avoid the most lines and crowds. So when I heard about this trip, which combined my love of math and Disney World, I was extremely excited about the possibility of going. I will love being able to see how mathematics is used and applied in so many different areas in such a complex establishment and theme park. I am really interested to see how we will be able to apply mathematics to a problem many people try to solve when visiting Disney- how to optimize your time in the parks and experience as much as possible.

Food:

For breakfast, I would love to go to the character breakfast at Chef Mickey’s because dining with characters is an experience you can really only have at Disney World, and also because I love breakfast food. Another restaurant I have always wanted to go to is the Le Cellier Steakhouse, which is located in Canada in Epcot’s World Showcase. It is pretty expensive, but my dad has always wanted to eat here whenever he has gone to Disney and we have talked about it many times as a family, but for some reason or another we have always ended up not dining here during our travels, so it would be fun to final get to eat there! I would also love to go to Be Our Guest restaurant in the Magic Kingdom because for one of their desserts they have “the grey stuff,” which is in the lyrics of the song “Be Our Guest” from Beauty and the Beast. I always thought that line of the song was funny and I think it would be interesting to try, and I also have heard it is a great restaurant all around.

Attractions:

The Magic Kingdom contains some of my all time favorite rides. I love Splash Mountain, because it combines two of my favorite things- boat rides and big drops. The Tommorowland Transit Authority Peoplemover (or formerly, and what I still like to call it- the WEDway Peoplemover) is also one of my favorites because I used to love riding it when I was little and it is a great ride to take a break on and there is usually a very short and brief line! I also love It’s A Small World and the Carousel of Progress because they were my favorite rides when I first visited Disney World and they have a lot of sentimental value (and they also have fun theme songs that always get stuck in your head).

In Epcot, I love Test Track because I love riding really fast in the cars around the building and I am also really interested to see how they have changed the ride since they renovated it recently. I also love the Malestrom, which is located in Norway, again because it is a boat ride and because my sister and I loved riding it when we came to Disney World.

In Hollywood Studios, I love the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster because I love roller coasters and you get to go upside down. I also cannot wait to ride Toy Story Mania- it was open the last time I visited but I ended up not having a chance to ride it during our visit, so I am super excited to be able to experience this ride!

Finally, in Animal Kingdom, I really like Primeval Whirl, which is a smaller roller coaster but I really like it because your car spins around as you ride the roller coaster, which I love. I am also excited to go back on Dinosaur because I feel like it is a unique ride and it is also nice to have a ride inside on hot days!